Rob, I like your coated pistons! NYTwin Turbo, I like the look of your current COP/CNP setup better than the older pics and nice touch rotating your injectors 180* to hide the connectors. In the pursuit of perfection I bet that you had enough parts to rebuild another motor for example valve covers. I bet that you have had at least 4 sets. Your engine compartment is a symmetry benchmark. I am lucky to have the Kirban chrome starter kit, powermater cover, egr cover, power steering cap, blower cover and maybe one other piece. I do have a decision to make tho. I have a virgin set of stage 2 heads and intake or I can put the production style heads and intake on it. This motor had stage 2 heads and a PT-80 turbo on it way back in 99.
As always, thank you for your comments on my current set-up. I'm still getting used to looking at it myself.
If you already have both the stage heads and matching intake, I say go for it! If your not trying to prove anything, I still think that to this day, there's still nothing out there that can easily beat a set of stage heads and intake.
But the question comes up.......why? To make 1500 horsepower? Do you need that much? Of course you do! We all do! But maybe we don't. I don't know........Now I'm also so confused. The power potential can be intoxicating.
But remember, you will also need to include more money and time in your budget further down the line for custom headers, welding injector bungs, fabricating a fuel rail, regulator placement, upper plenum, upper coolant hoses and possibly tapping for sensors, valve covers, maybe even coil-pack placement (if your going to still use one), possibly even a 90mm throttle body, the list just goes on and on. It begins to snowball. It already takes too long to build one of these things. I don't know about you, but I'm in my late 40's and always too busy, I would never want to give up another few years.
But you know all this already. No one knows the deal better than you. You have been there, done that, even before some of these forum members were born! Maybe it's time you just build a powerful, great running, great looking engine with solid off-the-shelf parts? Then get in the damned thing and enjoy some time behind the wheel?
My logic when using an off-center block was to give myself the option to avoid all this stuff. Didn't really work out that way. I started the fabrication back in 2002. I think it took about 3 years to finish the bulk fabrication. But I was younger then.
The temptation to use the stage stuff is strong. But if it were me, I would probably throw on a set of bad-ass Champion/TA heads, ported stock or Champion intake, TA headers, and still make 800 streetable horsepower and be done with it. Dress it up, polish and powder coat, get nit-picky with the fun stuff, put it into you newly painted, freshly redone ride!